Game Development Caution
TLDRTim Cain shares three stories highlighting increased risk aversion and over-caution in game development compared to earlier in his career. He sees developers and publishers avoiding risk due to high budgets, padding estimates, and avoiding strong opinions. This caution leads to less innovative, passionless games with fewer charming quirks. Cain argues rapid iteration and risk-taking, like with indie games, leads to better ideas. He wants to remind developers to make games expressing their passion, not games creeping toward mundane due to excessive meetings and corporate groupthink.
Takeaways
- 😟 Tim is concerned about rising caution in game development that can dampen creativity and passion
- 👷♂️ Tim used to use whiteboards to track outstanding work, but developers now resist public task assignment
- 😡 Tim clashed with developers over simple feature requests that took longer than expected
- 😲 Tim and Leonard have loud creative debates which makes some staff anxious
- 🤔 Tim notes a similar rise of caution and blandness in games journalism
- 💰Tim links rising game dev caution to budgets, corporate pressure and monetization tricks
- 🌈 Indie games stand out to Tim as taking more creative risks
- 😔 Tim worries passion and ideas are being drained from AAA games
- 🙅 Tim wants less committees and rapid iteration in game dev
- 😀 Tim urges developers to stay passionate and not let caution dampen creativity
Q & A
What methods did Tim use to track unfinished work and bugs when making Fallout?
-Tim used two whiteboards - one to track unfinished features and content, the other to track the 10 most serious bugs. Next to each item was the name of the person responsible for fixing it.
How did the Fallout team feel about having their names publicly listed next to bugs and unfinished work?
-The Fallout team was fine with it and liked being able to see what they needed to work on. However, when Tim tried this approach 10 years later at Carbine, team members said they would quit if their names were publicly listed next to bugs.
What simple combat AI did Tim ask for when making The Outer Worlds?
-Tim asked for code where NPCs would add enemies to a list when attacked, prioritizing targets based on damage taken. This would allow more complex AI to be layered on later.
Why was Tim's request for simple combat AI estimated to take 4 weeks?
-The programmer assigned to it said it would take 4 weeks but couldn't explain why when pushed by Tim. It seems there was reluctance and tension around Tim's request.
How long did it actually take to implement the simple combat AI Tim requested?
-After negotiation, Tim settled on an estimate of 2 weeks. It's unclear if it actually took that long, but Tim got what he asked for.
How do Tim and Leonard collaborate on coming up with features and mechanics?
-Tim says he and Leonard get very energetic - yelling, pacing, drawing on whiteboards. They tease apart ideas this way despite people thinking they're fighting.
What did other employees think when they heard Tim and Leonard yelling while collaborating?
-Other employees like Anthony Davis thought they were fighting about something serious and it made them nervous, like mom and dad fighting.
What does Tim think causes the rise in "development caution" he sees in the industry?
-Tim believes it's due to games costing more money now, so teams are more cautious to avoid expensive mistakes. But he thinks this caution leads to less innovative, less passionate games.
How does Tim say development caution also impacts games journalism?
-Tim sees journalists becoming less willing to take risks with their reviews and coverage to avoid jeopardizing access and exclusives from publishers.
What does Tim say is ultimately the best way to counter development caution?
-Tim advocates empowering passionate developers to iterate rapidly on what they want to create without needing extensive approval processes.
Outlines
😠 The rise of game development caution
Tim discusses his experiences seeing a rise in excessive caution in game development over the past decade, including overly padded time estimates, wanting extensive approval before making changes, and developers being unwilling to have their names publicly listed next to tasks. He worries this caution leads to declining quality and lack of risk-taking.
😕 Caution can have benefits but dampens ideas
While acknowledging benefits of caution like reducing bugs, Tim argues it also removes charismatic "jank", creativity, and risk-taking, making games feel corporate-driven and money-focused rather than expressive. He sees this in AAA publishers as well as cautious game journalism that avoids controversy.
😌 Finding a way forward with passion
Tim concludes by encouraging passion and rapid iteration without requiring extensive oversight. He reflects on resolving tensions over his whiteboard method, long estimate for a simple coding task, and loud discussions with Leonard. He hopes reminding developers to stay passionate can counter rising caution in the industry.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Caution
💡Passion
💡Iteration
💡Jank
💡Indie games
💡Microtransactions
💡Embargoes
💡Development culture
💡Creative risk
💡Money focus
Highlights
Two whiteboards tracked unfinished features and top bugs before project management tools existed.
A decade later, public whiteboards caused backlash and threats to quit over accountability.
A simple combat AI request estimated at 4 weeks was argued to 45 minutes of work.
Cautions estimates and meetings hamper productivity and passion in game development.
Money-seeking corporate influence cautiously dampens ideas and risks in games.
Indie games take more risks and have richer ideas compared to AAA games.
Game journalism grew cautious to maintain access, losing boldness and passion.
Committees limit creative freedom; rapid iteration finds quality through failure.
Personal accountability page avoided team friction from public lists.
Missed opportunities from avoiding loud idea debates between leads.
Longer dev times, bigger teams spur overcaution hampering game quality.
Remind teams to stay passionate and advocate rapid iteration of ideas.
Big budgets reduce acceptable failure leading to mundane cautious games.
People can sense the lack of passion in cautious corporate game development.
The rise of development caution across the industry worries creative leads.
Transcripts
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